Hamas Chief: Suicide Murder "a Natural Right"
Hamas Chief Says Suicide Bombings "a Natural Right"
Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal has defended Palestinian suicide bombings as a "natural right" while denouncing what he called Washington's ambitions to dominate the Middle East. "Our enemies...don't understand that a suicide operation...is a natural right," he told students in Damascus. Hamas was responsible for the majority of suicide bombings in Israel during the past five years. (AFP/Yahoo)
Spare the Rod, Spoil the Peace
Legally and morally, neither the U.S. nor Europe owes the Palestinians any assistance - much less hundreds of millions of dollars worth on a continuing basis. There are plenty of needy causes to which to devote the scarce humanitarian resources of our overburden governments: Darfurians subject to a genocidal campaign by an Islamist government, Congolese trying to recover from "Africa's World War," Tibetans sitting in exile in India, etc. (TCS Daily)
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams: Jihad Against America
The jihad against America is as old as America.
Andrew Bostom reviews in Front Page AMERICA'S FIRST WAR ON TERROR;
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, then serving as American ambassadors to France and Britain, respectively, met in 1786 in London with the Tripolitan Ambassador to Britain, Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja. These future American presidents were attempting to negotiate a peace treaty which would spare the United States the ravages of jihad piracy—murder, enslavement (with ransoming for redemption), and expropriation of valuable commercial assets—emanating from the Barbary states (modern Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, known collectively in Arabic as the Maghrib). During their discussions, they questioned Ambassador Adja as to the source of the unprovoked animus directed at the nascent United States republic. Jefferson and Adams, in their subsequent report to the Continental Congress, recorded the Tripolitan Ambassador’s justification:
… that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise.
Thus as Joshua London’s Victory in Tripoli elaborates in lucid prose, an aggressive jihad was already being waged against the United States almost 200 years prior to America becoming a dominant international power in the Middle East. Moreover, these jihad depredations targeting America antedated the earliest vestiges of the Zionist movement by a century, and the formal creation of Israel by 162 years—exploding the ahistorical canard that American support for the modern Jewish state is a prerequisite for jihadist attacks on the United States.
Andrew Bostom will be speaking at the Heritage Foundation May 9th to discuss his book "The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims" a comprehensive, meticulously documented compilation, which includes Muslim theological and juridical texts, eyewitness historical accounts by both Muslim and non-Muslim chroniclers, and essays by preeminent scholars analyzing jihad (“holy war”) and the conditions imposed upon the non-Muslim peoples conquered by jihad campaigns.
Details here.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
"America is Now Disappearing From the Hearts Within America Itself... Whereas Islam is Growing Even Within America"
Congratulate the left, they are doing a fine job of burying this great nation.
"America is Now Disappearing From the Hearts Within America Itself... Whereas Islam is Growing Even Within America"; "Whoever is Familiar With the Sunna and Hadith Knows That a Battle Against the Enemies of Allah Awaits on the Horizon, in Which the Muslims Will Be Victorious" Saudi Cleric Nasser bin Suleiman Al-'Omar:More here
View MEMRI Clip here
On April 19, 2006, Saudi Islamist cleric Sheikh Dr. Nasser Al-'Omar appeared on Al-Jazeera delivering a lecture on jihad. In it, he said, "The Islamic nation now faces a great phase of jihad," and added "There are places where jihad is proper - Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq, Chechnya, Kashmir, and the Philippines." He also told his audience that the U.S. was "disappearing" - echoing his statement on Al-Majd TV on June 13, 2004 that "America is collapsing," and that Muslims "must be patient."
In November 2004, Dr. Al-'Omar made headlines as one of the 26 signatories of a fatwa supporting the Iraqi resistance. On December 17, 2004, he explained, in an interview for the PBS program Frontline, why he was opposed to eliminating anti-Western and antisemitic teachings from Saudi schoolbooks. (1)
According to a March 13, 2006 Reuters report, Al-'Omar hosted a reception for a Hamas delegation, led by Khaled Mash'al, in Riyadh on March 12, 2006. The report also stated that according to Al-'Omar's website ( www.almoslim.net , hosted in Canada(2)) the reception was also attended by prominent clerics and Islamists - some of whom had served prison terms for their suspected support of Al-Qaeda or for criticizing the Saudi government.(3)
The following is the transcript of excerpts from the lecture by Sheikh Dr. Nasser bin Suleiman Al-'Omar, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on April 19, 2006.
"[A] U.S. Congressman... Said: 'The 21st Century is the Century of Islam, Which Will Offer an Opportunity for Peace in the World'"
Dr. Nasser bin Suleiman Al-'Omar: "Listen to this report, which was submitted by the American intelligence to the American officials, regarding the religion of Islam, which some think is defeated or weak today. According to the report, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. Muslims will soon become one-third of the world's population. Conversion to Islam increased significantly following 9/11.
"In addition, U.S. Congressman John Morlan [sic] said: 'The 21st century is the century of Islam, which will offer an opportunity for peace in the world.' There is no doubt that it is Islam that will bring peace, and not the U.N., America, Russia, or anyone else."
[...]
Zacarias Moussaoui Gets LIfe
Zacarias Moussaoui deserved the death penalty Islamoextermists laugh the world over. Now he can get three squares, build a big, strong healthy body, and get himself a law degree
Mazel tov!
Update: Listening to what the jurors "found", UGH! The poor bastard had a troubled childhood. I think I am going to be sick.
Three Myths About Islam
More you need to know about Islam. Sorry folks, get educated! This is a paid sub piece over at the Sun - that paper and the blogs will save Western Civilization ................. no joke.
None of the three myths can survive the light of competent scholarship, and the author of “Islamic Imperialism: A History," Efraim Karsh, of King’s College, London, is much more than merely competent. He starts at the beginning, with the missionary preaching of Muhammad in the seventh century, and almost reaches the present. Readers of the blog know I am a great, great admirer of Mr. Karsh and cite his writings often. Read it all benath the fold.
Luttrell Psalter’s illumination (c. 1340) of King Richard I in combat with Saladin. GRANGER COLLECTION
Much of what we think we know about Islam is false. Islam has been on the attack since its birth in the seventh century.
Many people know many things about Islam and its history. Unfortunately, much of what they know happens to be untrue. The great Jewish Orientalists of the 19th century, such as Gustav Weil and Ignaz Goldziher, can be blamed for myth no. 1: that Islam is especially tolerant of other religions. Their scholarship was immense but they were too eager to praise Islam to remain objective.
Myth no. 2 is that Muslim extremists are not attacking us, but only counterattacking, so that if non-Muslims would only stop provoking them, all would be well.
But Muslims certainly cannot be faulted for Myth no. 3: that Islam is a religion of peace.That myth is strictly the creation of Western liberals and especially American educational administrators, librarians, and academics determined to invent their own peaceful Islam, in which even Jihad is always or at least mostly an entirely nonviolent spiritual struggle.
None of the three myths can survive the light of competent scholarship, and the author of “Islamic Imperialism: A History” (Yale University Press, 288 pages, $30), Efraim Karsh, of King’s College, London, is much more than merely competent. He starts at the beginning...............
Click below to read it all.
This is a paid subscription piece over at the Sun so I've run it for you beneath the fold.
The liberal betrayal of Ayaan Hirsi Ali
"My criticsim of the West, especially of liberals, is that they take freedom for granted. Hirsi Ali, this past weekend in NYC.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali was in New York, that bastion of liberalism, where her host at PEN acted badly, the cognitive dissonance in the room belonged less to those who had paid to listen to her than to those who had invited her to speak.....
AN ENLIGHTENMENT FUNDAMENTALIST
By BRENDAN BERNHARD , New York Sun (paid only, so I am running it all)
Like an increasing number of immigrants in the West who refuse to have a “victim” label pinned to their lapels, the Dutch-Somalian actress, author, and politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali represents something of a problem for liberal intellectuals. A short film she cowrote, “Submission,” was shown on Dutch television in August 2004. Its subject was the mistreatment of Muslim women at the hands of Muslim men.
Deliberately provocative, the film projected words from the Koran onto exposed female flesh. Just over two months later, the director, Theo van Gogh, was savagely murdered by a Muslim fundamentalist.Ever since, Ms. Ali, who is a member of the Dutch Parliament and the author of a new book, “The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam”, has had to live under the protection of armed guards. On Sunday, Ms.Ali was interviewed by the Paris Review editor Philip Gourevitch at the New York Public Library as part of PEN World Voices: The New York Festival of International Literature.[Not so incidentally, Hirsi Ali was recently evicted from her home. Just to show how far Dutch tolerance goes: Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s neighbors have sued the Dutch state in order to get her to be removed from the apartment complex in which she is living under police protection. The request was initially rejected, but following an appeal a higher court has now ordered Hirsi Ali to leave her house within four months, Peaktalk translates here - Atlas]
Paul Holdengraber, the library’s director of public events, got things going with a brief introduction, pausing only to take a mandatory swipe at President Bush, before introducing the president of PEN American Center, Ron Chernow.
Mr. Chernow’s introduction was curiously ungracious. It consisted largely of a warning that the audience might find itself in agreement with only some of what Ms. Ali had to say, or perhaps just a small portion of it, or even none of it. Nevertheless, he assured us, we could all agree that she is a woman of uncommon courage and integrity.
A slender, dark-skinned woman with a pretty face and long-fingered, expressive hands, Ms. Ali, 37, smiled politely as she took this in. She is, after all, a politician, and accustomed to what in a few minutes she would term “the liberal betrayal” — namely, the failure of the West to defend its own Enlightenment values against those who openly seek to undermine or destroy them. On this particular afternoon, it would take an African refugee to remind a New Yorker writer (Mr. Gourevitch), a multi-lingual European intellectual impresario (Mr. Holdengraber), and the president of PEN American Center (Mr. Chernow) that courage and integrity are not necessarily at odds with rational, coherent thought, and might even be an integral part of it. At least Salman Rushdie, seated in the front row in what appeared to be a gesture of moral support for a co-religionist in trouble with Muslim radicals, seemed to understand.
Mr. Gourevitch, the 45-year-old author of a critically acclaimed account of the Rwanda
genocide, “We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families,” conducted the interview fluently and without the benefit of notes. His demeanor was cool and mildly skeptical. He didn’t place Ms. Ali in the dock, exactly, but he certainly didn’t put her on a pedestal. There was an unmistakable air of cognitive dissonance in the room — how do we deal with this woman? — given almost palpable expression by occasional loud bursts of electronic static that initially seemed to give the Dutch woman a fright. (She does, after all, suffer from continual death threats.) But she laughed it off.
“My criticism of the West, especially of liberals, is that they do take freedom for granted,” Ms. Ali responded. She noted that Western Europeans born after World War II are unused to conflict. “They have lost the instinct to recognize that there can be such a thing as an enemy or a threat to freedom, and that’s what I’m witnessing in Europe now,” she stated. “[There is] a pacifist ideology that violence should never be used in any circumstances, and so we should talk and talk and talk. Even when your opponent tells you, ‘I don’t want to talk to you, I want to destroy you,’ the reaction is, ‘Please, let’s talk about the fact that you want to destroy me!’” [That sums up the American left - Atlas]
At this, the audience, which included a female student wearing a Little Green Footballs T-shirt, a reference to the pro-Iraq war Web site, burst into laughter. At the end of the interview, the Dutch politician and author was given rousing applause, and it became clear that whatever cognitive dissonance had been in the room belonged less to those who had paid to listen to her than to those who had invited her to speak.
UPDATE: Other bloggers who covered the event, check out Mary at Exit Zero and Judith at Kesher Talk, which is where I found this pearl. SHE SPEAKS! LGF , T-shirt Teen in her own words:
I never post here (though I read quite frequently--LGF is my homepage! And I really should be commenting more often) but I'm very proud to say that I am the "female student wearing a Little Green Footballs T-shirt" mentioned here :)
I'm honestly thrilled that I was able to go hear Ayaan Hirsi Ali speak. As I remarked to my mother, this was the first time I've heard a speaker with whom I agreed on every point. I think she's incredibly inspiring and I wish more people had the opportunity to hear what she has to say. Surprisingly, hardly anyone in the elitist-NYC-liberal circle I go to school with every day knows about her--I told my U.S. Government teacher I went to hear her speak, and not only did he not know who she was, he'd never heard about Theo van Gogh! I think that's all pretty appalling.. .
. . And no, my t-shirt wasn't wet. I'm a respectable pro-Iraq-war-website reader!
There was never any doubt.
UPDATE: I took down the rest of the article until I receive permission from The New York Sun to run it all. Check back tomorrow.
First, KILL ALL THE FREE THINKERS
Sounds like mao, adolph, pol pot, hugo, baby doc................
Arab Reformists Under Threat by Islamists: Bin Laden Urges Killing of "Freethinkers"
Arab reformists are constantly threatened by Islamists, who consider freethinkers to be guilty of the worst of crimes.(1) The most recent death threat against Arab intellectuals was issued by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
In an audiocassette released April 23, 2006, bin Laden addressed the issue of the Danish cartoons and what he regards as the Arab countries' failure to show an appropriate response. He emphasized that anyone mocking the Prophet or making fun of Islam should be killed.
Likewise, bin Laden attacked Arab "freethinkers," several of whom he mentioned by name, and called for them to be killed as well. He cited the precedent of Ka'b ibn Al-Ashraf, whom the Prophet had killed for writing poems against him, as a model for proper conduct in such cases. According to bin Laden, there is no need to consult anyone on this matter; every loyal Muslim should see it as his duty to eliminate these heretics.
The following are excerpts from bin Laden's speech, as posted by the reformist website Middle East Transparent on April 27, 2006.(2)
Freethinkers and Heretics who Defame Islam Should Be Killed
Read it all at MEMRI
Speaking of free thinkers, Tigerhawk is has a must read post for free thinkers everywhere here;
it bites off alot - Iranian threats, "wiping Israel off the map," and the Hitchens v. Cole cage match
bbc: Next Time Leave the Newsroom
Blogs: To trust or not to trust?
BBC News
As a poll suggests only 25% of people trust blogs as a news source, Paul Reynolds says their role is actually to make a fuss and offer new perspectives.
We source everything.
Hey BBC in order to conduct an unbiased scientific poll you'll actually have to leave the building next time and speak to people outside of your area of dominant influence, if you can bring yourself to break bread with the great unwashed.
Expect the blogs denigrated for years to come by the lamestream press.
I wonder if the bbc will tout the same propaganda when Dan Rathernot starts his much ballyhooed new blog.
Leaving the UN to the dustbin of History
Bolton leap frogging the UN......watch it sink under its own weight
UNITED NATIONS — Iran yesterday increased the heat of the dispute over its development of nuclear weapons by threatening to attack Israel if America commits any “evil” act around the world.
And as the U.N. Security Council begins contemplating how to counter the Iranian defiance, Ambassador John Bolton told Congress yesterday that Washington may bypass Turtle Bay and assemble like-minded countries to impose sanctions on the mullah regime.
The latest Iranian threat came as Israel marked its memorial day for war victims yesterday on the eve if its Independence Day celebrations. “We have announced that wherever America does something evil, the first place that we target will be Israel,” the Revolutionary Guards commander, Rear Admiral Mohammad-Ebrahim Dehqani, said, according to the Iranian news agency ISNA.
Secretary-General Annan’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said yesterday the United Nations advises all sides to “lower the rhetoric and focus on the diplomatic discussions.” But Israel believes the Iranian threats are beyond rhetoric. NewYork Sun
Yeah, Steph, everyone is paying attention to you (unintentional nosespray!)
“You have to listen to the Iranians very carefully, because they mean what they say,” Israel’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Daniel Carmon, told The New York Sun yesterday. “This is not only about Israel. The Iranians endanger the whole world.”
Bolton Races for Sanctions on Iran As It Vows To Target Israel First
UNITED NATIONS - Iran yesterday increased the heat of the dispute over its development of nuclear weapons by threatening to attack Israel if America commits any "evil" act around the world.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Atlas Vlogs 3: Rant and Roil!
TYPEPAD was down, done, cooked. They lost my new vlog. Losing blog - it like losing da love baby.
The Minutemen Make My Day
Here are men of integrity, character, guts, and reason. This resonates of Giuliani turning down the Saudi blood money. Girls, these are the type of men you want next to you. Trust me. They are all that and a bag a chips. hat tip to Michael over at over at MEMRI
Minutemen Turn Down Al-Jazeera Interview Request Barbara Ferguson, Arab News
WASHINGTON, 2 May 2006 — The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, an anti-illegal immigration organization that patrols the border in Arizona, has refused another interview request by Al-Jazeera TV, calling it a “terrorist TV station.”
The Minutemen volunteers, many of them Vietnam, Korean and World War II veterans, said they would leave camp if the Arab news organization, which some described as “anti-American,” was given access to the site.
Al-Jazeera has attracted millions of viewers throughout the Arab world with its coverage of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and its airing of tapes of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
But Al-Jazeera’s growing popularity also brought it greater scrutiny. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused the Qatar-based network of encouraging militants by airing hostage executions. And Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly branded it a “propaganda network...bent on encouraging violence and sympathetic to terrorists.”
The controversy between the Minutemen and Al-Jazeera started a year ago, when Nasreddine Hssaini, a Washington, D.C.-based Al-Jazeera reporter, said he wanted to interview leaders of the Minutemen and others in Arizona.
Hssaini said he was interested in covering the increase in apprehensions of illegal aliens known as OTMs — “Other Than Mexicans.” Reportedly, these foreigners increasingly include Arabs, Muslims and others from the Middle East.
At the time, the founder and president of MCDC, Chris Simcox, refused Al-Jazeera request to interview and film the Minuteman patrols on the border.
“I’ll have no part in aiding and abetting the enemy, and will continue to work to protect our country from terrorists who are clearly looking at our unsecured borders as the pathway to destroy America,” he said in a June 2005 interview.
“Would we allow Japanese or German television to film the unsecured border during World War II?” Minuteman spokeswoman Connie Hair added. “These people broadcast to the enemies of America. It’s not a news story, it’s recon.”
They got it down, cold. G-d love you.
Bolton Rocks and Roils!
You have to just love this man. He is da bomb;
At one point in the highly contentious debate over U.N. management reform, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton was so annoyed at hearing the same arguments again and
again that he told his fellow ambassadors "we are at the present moment in the U.N. equivalent of the movie Groundhog Day." AP Blog
How hysterical is he? Groundhog Day! woo hoo --The greatest movie, my favortite. I could watch it on an endless loop (no pun intended.)
Another Bolton classic this past weekend in an interview, referring to the hit 1950’s science fiction television show that featured weird and surreal twists on ordinary life, John Bolton told the UK’s Telegraph;
that the UN atmosphere is “like a bubble,” a kind of “twilight zone” in which “things happen … that don’t reflect the reality of the world.”
And it seems the Pope is taking his cues from Big John;
the Vatican called upon the [the UN] to “be sane”
I don't think the Vatican has a prayer on that one.
Update: This is rich, wasted on the mentally handicapped. From EXPOSE THE LEFT via NRO
US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton testified before the House subcommittee on international relations today and got in a little argument with Rep. Dennis Kucinich. Rep. Kucinich asked John Bolton about Sy Hersh’s “New Yorker” article on Iran, to which Bolton said he didn’t see it because he doesn’t have time to read “fiction”:
KUCINICH: Have you ever heard of that report?
BOLTON: I’d never heard of the report, I never read the article, nor do I intend to.
KUCINICH: Do you have any interest as to whether or not—as the U.S. Ambassador, you don’t have any interest as to whether or not U.S. Marines are actually operating in Iran right now?
BOLTON: I said I had not heard of the report and I didn’t intend to read the article in “The New Yorker.”
KUCINICH: If I gave you this article right now, walked it over, would you look at it?
BOLTON: I don’t think so, honestly, Congressman, because I don’t have time to read much fiction.
KUCINICH: We know that U.S. Troops are in Iran. How does this affect U.N. Negotiations?
BOLTON: Congressman, you know more than I do, that’s all I can say.
John Bolton in '08. Seriously, think about a Bolton/Giuliani or Rice ticket (depending on Shrillary.) We are going to need a real man in that race. It seems his extraordinary abilities are wasted in that hen house.
UN Skulduggery
If someone doesn't take the proverbial match to the UN, I will. They are a hindrance not a help
After Awarding Annan $500,000, German Is Given Top U.N. Post
UNITED NATIONS - United Nations officials yesterday were adamant that no exchange of favors was involved in awarding an appointment to a top Turtle Bay position to a man who had just bestowed on Secretary-General Annan an international prize worth a half-million dollars.
Are they fcking kidding me? And wait it get's better. Coffee Enema says the half a mil is going into his "foundation" which btw does not even exist. Yeah, it hasn't been set up up, but we have.
UN Honors Iranian terrorist as "Champion of the Earth", Anne Bayefsky
The UN Environmental Programme gave out its 2006 Champion of the Earth awards on 21 April, 2006. The awards are intended to honor individuals or groups "for their creativity, vision and leadership, and the potential of their work and ideas for replication across the globe." One of those justified in receiving this award – in the UN's estimation - was Iranian Massoumeh Ebtekar. She was Vice President of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Head of the Department of Environment from 1997-2005. But Ebtekar has another name - "Screaming Mary" – given to her by the American press during the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. Mary was her nom de guerre and Ebtekar was the hostage-takers' spokesperson.
[ CONTINUED ... ]
A Clashing Open Thread
Photo: Helmut Newton
Not
"America Cannot Do a Damn Thing"
“We have announced that wherever America does something evil, the first place that we target will be Israel,” Revolutionary Guards Rear Admiral Mohammad-Ebrahim Dehqani was quoted as saying by Iran’s student news agency ISNA Story here. It's always been about America, Israel is merely America's proxy. No matter what the media tells you, it ain't about that tiny oil-less, strip of desert (Israel).
America cannot do a damn thing -- .Ayatollah Ruhollah, Late Iranian leader (01/01/1979)
This enemy is on a fanatical mission to take away our lives and liberty ...The passengers and crew of United 93 had the blessed opportunity to understand the nature of the attack and to launch a counterattack against the enemy. This was our first successful counterattack in our homeland in this new global war. David Beamer, Father of Todd Beamer, killed aboard United 93 on 9/11/01
The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing. Albert Einstein
More at FDD
Aznar Totally Got It
And they threw him out;
NEO-NATO? Former Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Maria Aznar, International Co-Chairman (with Vaclav Havel) of the Committee on the Present Danger, argues that if the West is to prevail against the Militant Islamist terrorist threat, NATO must target the 21st century enemies of the Free World.
He argues that NATO must recognize and stand up to this existential threat. Militant Islamism is not merely "protesting Muslim grievances." Militant Islamism intends to destroy Judeo-Christian societies, "crusaders, infidels and Zionists alike."
More here.
Iran: Kristol is Wrong, IMAO
This was a depressing piece by William Kristol on Iran and the Bush Doctrine in the Weekly Standard.
[...] As for the statement, "The Security Council is the primary and most important institution for the maintenance of peace and stability and security"--of course that's not true. But what's the harm in saying it? It creates goodwill as the United States goes through the Security Council process. Sure, that process won't lead anywhere. But then the Europeans will finally see that they've got to join us in serious sanctions. They will be very targeted sanctions, which won't affect ordinary Iranians, because that would be counterproductive. But a signal of resolve will have been sent to Tehran, nonetheless. They will know that if they don't change, we and the Europeans will remain united behind these targeted sanctions. And you can't argue with this: Our relations with the Europeans are much better than they were during that nightmarish first term.
* * *
Yes, that's the view from Foggy Bottom. And it's true the Europeans don't fear the Bush administration any more. Nor, unfortunately, do others. One might also note that, despite all the goodwill built up by our outreach to the capitals of Europe, President Bush seems much weaker today than he was in the bad old days of unilateralism and bellicosity, and so does the United States. But the State Department is popular, and at least we don't look like Neanderthals in the drawing rooms of Europe and Georgetown.
Condi and her colleagues may come home and say, privately, it ain't so. But it is so. Much of the U.S. government no longer believes in, and is no longer acting to enforce, the Bush Doctrine. "The United States of America understands and believes that Iran is not Iraq." That's a diplomatic way of saying that the United States of America is in retreat.
Despite the tongue-in-cheek approach, there is a good deal of truth to what Mr. Kristol says here. But I don't believe we have lost our will. I do believe we are doing the diplomatic dance, much the way we did the diplomatic cha cha cha prior to the Iraqi invasion. The left wing in America demands it. But there comes that moment of truth -- when all diplomatic roads have been exhausted and it's time to put up or shut up, we put up.
And who is to say we did not have a hand in the surprise revolt against the mullahs today?
The Iranian people came out in force to express their anger at the Iranian regime's failure to listen to their needs. The regime fears its own people more than a sanctions or military strikes. It knows well the overwhelming anger people have towards the regime and how quickly regimes can change.
Therefore the regime organized its own May Day or International Workers Day march at the former US Embassy in Tehran hoping to control the event. This move angered workers and student groups who called this a bogus event.
But things did not turn out as the regime hoped. Angry workers went to the regime's march and hijacked it instead. The Iranian people used this government sponsored opportunity to come out in force and make their voices heard.
Go over to Regime Change Iran for the complete round up. Incredible photos of the demonstrations here. These are very encouraging signs of serious internal dissent.
Penn Censor Prof's Past Articles Condemned Art Censorship
So the Penn State professor who censored a student's artwork because of a perceived sympathy to Israel has a written history history of condemning censorship of the arts. Volokh is reporting it all here.
Hmmmm, what could have motivated Garoian to censor Shulman's artwork then? I hazard to guess.
Ironically, Professor Garoian, responsible for censorship in this incident, previously wrote a series of articles condemning censorship of the arts, including at Penn State!]
A very strong statement by the director of the Penn State Hillel, Tuvia Abramson:
Following eight days of misinformation by the School of Visual Arts and the Penn State University spokesman, which resulted in misleading information, I have decided today to issue an official statement as the executive director of Penn State Hillel.
[...] In my 23 years in Hillel on three different campuses, I have not seen an act so blatant as the act of censorship, discrimination, and anti-Semitism like the one which applies to Joshua Stulman.
This was not a single act. This was systematic abuse and intimidation which was applied by the School of Visual Arts to coerce the student and force him to cancel his art exhibition all because of its political content.
The message of Joshua's exhibit was this: When you preach hate, teach hate, and indoctrinate children with hate, you will have terror. When you use the airways and the political system to reinforce hate, you create a mechanism by which these children will learn how and when to destroy innocent life.
This message was blocked by the director of the School of Visual Arts and its faculty without discussion or review of most of the artwork with the student Joshua Stulman. The director issued a statement canceling the exhibit stating the cancellation was based on Penn State's Policy AD42 about Zero Tolerance for Hate and that Joshua's work did not promote a democratic dialogue or cultural diversity.
The second reason stated for canceling the exhibit was due to the sponsorship of Hillel for the reception on opening night.
Both of these statements were false, misleading, and were never discussed prior to receiving the letter of cancellation. They were fake excuses to find justification to shut up the exhibit because of its political content, which did not go along with the political opinion or agenda of Professor Charles Garoian and art lecturer and advisor Robert Yarber.
Attached with this must read email here is a more detailed chronology of events, which Volokh has reprinted "beneath the fold" for those who are interested.(hat tip tOm P)
Monday, May 01, 2006
A pain afflicts modern Islam.....
A personal tribute to Bernard Lewis in the WSJ. Extraordinary
A pain afflicts modern Islam--the loss of power. And Mr. Lewis has a keen sense of the Muslim redeemers and would-be avengers who promise to alter Islam's place in the world. This pain, the historian tells us, derives from Islam's early success, from the very triumph of the prophet Muhammad. Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land; he had led his people through wilderness. Jesus had been crucified. But Muhammad had prevailed and had governed.
[...]
The faith he would bequeath his followers would forever insist on the oneness of religion and politics. Where Christians are enjoined in their scripture to "render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things which are God's," no such demarcation would be drawn in the theory and practice of Islam.
"It may be that Western culture will indeed go: The lack of conviction of many of those who should be its defenders and the passionate intensity of its accusers may well join to complete its destruction. But if it does go, the men and women of all the continents will thereby be impoverished and endangered."
Andrew Bostom: Jihad in Europe
How very cool of Solomon and how very excellent for us that Solomon blogs? He attended the brilliant Bostom lecture at Harvard (SHOCKA);
Audio: 'Andrew Bostom: Jihad in Europe: Past as Prologue?'
In commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, the Mashtots Chair in Armenian Studies of Harvard University, Dr. James Russell announces a lecture by Dr. Andrew G. Bostom:: "Jihad in Europe: Past as Prologue?" based upon his recently published book,The Legacy of Jihad
I know Dr. Bostom was disappointed because C-Span's BookTV was willing to send a Boston crew to cover the event, but the requisite permissions couldn't be had in time, [bullshit I bet Harvard wussed out - Atlas] but the room was very small and as it was, the approximately 40 people who did attend were crammed in together in a very small space to hear the lecture. The Semitic Museum at Harvard is a very cool spot, but perhaps doesn't have much in the way of large lecture facilities. The sarcophagi take up all the space, I suppose.
Go over to Solomon's post and listen to the audio here. It is rare to hear so knowledgeable scholar on Islam reveal the ugly underbelly of militant Islam.
It's Time to Take Out Nuclear Iran
IRAN CLOSER TO NUKES THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT
It is no surprise that the Ayn Rand Institute articulates what is fundamentally true.
No amount of negotiation or international pressure will persuade the Iranian theocrats to give up their longtime quest for nuclear bombs. To ensure Iran will not produce--or use--nuclear bombs, the United States and its allies must destroy Iran's nuclear facilities and wipe out its regime--and must do so without delay.
Iran presents a much greater danger to the United States' security than did Iraq and Afghanistan combined. Once Iran gets hold of nuclear bombs, the United States will be an easy target for blackmail and a likely target for mass destruction. As one of the principal ideological sources of Islamist totalitarianism, Iran is an avowed enemy of the United States and a leading state sponsor of terrorism.
Iran finances, trains, shelters and equips terrorists from organizations like al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad. Iran is currently waging a proxy war against the United States in Iraq and killing American soldiers by the dozens (if not by the hundreds). Under those circumstances the United States has a moral right--indeed, a moral obligation--to defend its people from Iran's threats and preempt future terrorist attacks.
The Iranian regime has repeatedly threatened to use its soon-to-be-produced nuclear weapons to wipe Israel off the map. It has repeatedly called for "Death to America." These threats must be taken seriously. We did not take Osama bin Laden's threats seriously, and lost thousands of lives in the Twin Towers. We do not want to make the same mistake with Iran, and lose many thousands more.
Thousands? Maybe millions. The time is now. The world is impotent, incapable of protecting it's own lands, it's own countries, its own sovereignty. It's no longer a question. It is 1938, it is Germany, Ahmadinejad lunches with the 12th imam.
Atlas can not, must not shrug.
UPDATE: Tangentialskulduggery
Families flee Iranian shelling of Kurdish rebels in Iraq
Iranian forces shelled Kurdish rebel positions in Iraq for a second day, forcing dozens of Kurdish families to flee attacks Teheran would neither confirm nor deny.
TIME MAGAZINE: #1 in Radical Islam
File under "you can't make this stuff up," this is the enemy, the fifth column.
America, snap out of it!
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Ayman al-Zawahiri, Muqtada al-Sadr, Revolutionaries?
No American Soldiers. No Rudy Giuliani?
Heroes & Pioneers: No Glenn Reynolds, No Charles Johnson, NO Michelle Malkin? No milbloggers?
Al Gore? Jan Egeland, Ralph Lauren, PAUL SIMON? WTF........Joey Cheek?
Colbert? yup! Clooney, uh huh! Bloggers, NYET!
No Denzel Washington or Gary Sinese, or Bruce Willis.
Stop buying this treasonous rag . CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION TODAY!
Top Photo: Jesse Jackson, Cindy Sheehan, Al Sharpton, Susan Sarandon marching in support of terror yesterday, NYC May you spend eternity living under Shariah law (better cover up those swingin' mammaries Susie). Uh, did she borrow Yasser's kafir?
Bottom photo: Denzel Washington visited Brooke Army Medical Center and made a substantial donation to the Fisher House FoundationThis is where soldiers who have been evacuated from Germany come to be hospitalized in the United States, especially burn victims. The Fisher House is a Hotel where soldiers' families can stay, for little or no charge, while their soldier is staying in the Hospital. BAMC has quite a few of these houses on base, but as you can imagine, they are almost filled most of the time.
UPDATE: Original details of when Denzel wrote the check was off, but the story is right-on here.(hat tip razOr)
UPDATE: Also cracking the list is Wayne Gould, the man responsible for the craze of Su Doku, the numbers game that The New York Post introduced to America.
Aztlan: The Left Gone Wild
May Day, May day....
When Illegals go Berserk, Will Your State Be Ready
"We have an aging white America ... They are dying ...We have got to eliminate the gringo, and what I mean by that is if the worst comes to the worst, we have got to kill him." Jose Angel Gutierrez, professor, University of Texas, Arlington and founder of the La Raza Unida political party.
If the illegal alien movement has been hijacked by the left, the socialists, the anarchists, and the Islamics because of a language barrier, then LEARN ENGLISH.
If not, then we have a problem. Importing the enemy, problema.
We are a nation of immigrants. We are not a nation of criminals. That is not our doctrine. Rule of law - that's our doctrine. This flagrant abuse of our laws must stop. We went from Voyage of the Damned to this? Uh uh.
Any Atlas readers on the ground with observations, please email me. Pajama Media will have updated coverage all day.
Darfur: cLooney's Trend Glommimg
What clooney should have said, what clooney didnt say.
Imagine, if you will, George Lefty cLooney stepping onto the dais with Simon Deng on one arm and Manute Bol on the other, looking out at that crowd shouting;
"Darfur is yet another front on the global war on Islamic fascism!"
He didn't...........nor did he mention nuclear weapons for the murderers of Darfur.
My kids had travel soccer, two games, so I could not attend the "Save Darfur" rally in DC today. But I am thrilled that thousands showed up in DC to save Darfur. [UPDATE: And I am thrilled that Marc was fortunate enough to make it (his wife did double soccer duty) - see his account below.] I am not thrilled that ill informed celebrities jump on the dais and start flapping those loose tongues (yiddish expression - a tongue has no bones.)
If this is the left's lame attempt to Blame Bush, these parasites can go to hell.
They came out as one to demand the Bush administration push harder for a multinational peacekeeping force to be sent to Darfur, and place other sanctions on Sudan.
If they did their homework, they'd know that Bush is not the problem. If they did their
homework they'd know Bush has been Sisyphus pushing an apathetic, yellow bellied, paralyzed UN and an even less engaged European community. If they did their homework they'd know NATO has refused to send troops to Darfur. If they did their homework they'd know the AU peacekeepers are scared to death and incapable of saving or protecting those people. Darfur needs NATO.
In reading the article in the Washington Post, little mention is made of Islamic extremist government and odder still, Simon Deng is never mentioned. Imagine that. The ex-slave who has worked tirelessly is not mentioned. Clooney's idiotic message is quoted but not Deng's.
cLooney: "The world policy on Sudan is failing," [what policy??-Atlas] said actor George Clooney, "If we turn our heads and look away and hope it will all go away, then they will, and an entire generation will die." [They are dead 400,000 and counting, three million since 1955 - why no mention of al qaeda in Khartoum, geo? What happens when it turns into a quagmire? What then geo? Who ya gonna blame?- Atlas]
Photo: cLooney and Pelussy
If Lefty cLooney was half the midget he made himself out to be he would have stood beside Deng and Manute Bol and echoed -- parroted (because that is his talent isn't it?) their words.
Debbie Schussel has the real back story here
Years ago, I wrote about Oprah Winfrey's refusal to do anything about what is
happening in Sudan.
Well, yesterday, she finally did--along with her friends, renowned African scholars and foreign policy experts Angelina Jolie and George Clooney.
But it is too little, too late. And their timing is by design. It fits in well with their political agenda. You see, now there are no Christians left in Arab Muslim Sudan. They've all been mass murdered (after torture, gang rape, and forced conversion to Islam). So, now, it is finally okay for these vapid celebs to display their phony concern.
I find it all so disingenous. Back in 2003;
Sudan's Arab Islamist government dispatched troops and pro-government Arab militias known as the Janjaweed to quell the uprising. The militias embarked on a campaign of terror, murder and raping civilians mostly from non-Arab ethnic groups, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee their villages. In 2004, the United States labeled the atrocities as genocide.
At about the same time, the mostly Muslim non-Arab villagers got an unlikely ally. American Jewish groups were growing alarmed by the atrocities being committed. They drew parallels to the Holocaust and how the world remained silent as Jews were killed. Many were also disturbed by the world's failure to stop the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
The Jews were determined not to let it happen again, and soon launched the Save Darfur Coalition. Since then, it has grown into a broad-based alliance of more than 160 faith-based groups that include religious and secular Jews, evangelical Christians, Catholics, Muslims, human rights organizations, Arab groups, black churches and Buddhists.
To all these Hollywood glommers I say, it's not enough to grab the funereal spotlight. Get informed. If you want to call attention to a problem you must know what that problem is and use the soapbox to explain what is happening and why.
UPDATE: Editorial in today's New York Sun bares a striking resemblance to what I've been saying
This Darfur double standard was underscored by the list of announced speakers for yesterday’s “Save Darfur” rally.They included at least three members of Congress — Nancy Pelosi, Donald Payne, and Michael Capuano — who voted against the liberation of Iraq. Mr. Payne, a Democrat of New Jersey, has reportedly gone so far as to say of the Iraq war, “I have never seen such a misuse of our power.” Ms. Pelosi, a Californian who is the Democratic leader in the House, has endorsed Rep. John Murtha’s demand for an immediate American withdrawal from Iraq.
The scheduled speakers at yesterday’s Save Darfur rally also included the Reverend Al Sharpton and the Democrat who lost in 1997 to Mayor Giuliani, Ruth Messinger. Rev. Sharpton and Ms. Messinger have marched against the Iraq war in New York behind the banner of United for Peace and Justice, an anti-Israel front group whose steering committee includes a representative of the Communist Party USA.
Just to underscore the double standard, Rev. Sharpton reportedly marched against the Iraq war in New York on Saturday, then marched in Washington on Sunday for more intervention in Sudan. Even worse, the Saturday march was organized by United for Peace and Justice, which has moved well beyond opposing the Iraq war. It now opposes any American action against Iran.“United for Peace and Justice opposes any military action against Iran, as well as covert action and sanctions,” the organization’s Web site says. The site includes letters for activists to send to Congress, saying,“Iran does not present a threat to the United States” and calling for taking away Israel’s nuclear weapons.
Another scheduled speaker at yesterday’s Save Darfur rally was a leader of the Union for Reform Judaism, Rabbi David Saperstein, whose movement sent a letter to President Bush calling for withdrawal of troops from Iraq and arguing that the Iraq war had discredited America in the international community and contributed to the growth of terrorism.
Also a scheduled speaker at the Save Darfur rally was a representative of the National Council of Churches. Its Web site’s “resources for peace” includes a “call on governments to review all forms of military cooperation with the State of Israel including instituting a strict arms embargo until such time that Israel withdraws completely from the Palestinian territories.”
Mr. Bush is way ahead of the leftist Darfur advocates because he supports freedom and democracy and opposes terrorism everywhere — not only in Darfur, but also in Iraq and Iran and Israel. He understands that Iran’s tyrants, Sudan’s regime,and Saddam Hussein are of a type.Before Mr.Bush met with the Darfur activists Friday, he met in the Oval office with a group of defectors from North Korea in what he called “one of the most moving meetings since I’ve been the president.”
Consistency is important here, all the more so because the Holocaust is invoked by so many of the Save Darfur protesters.Those who saw the destruction of European Jewry by the Nazis are moved to prevent the further destruction of the Darfurians by the Sudanese.
Read it all
UPDATE: One of my most lucid and informed readers, MarcH, made it to the rally. Here is his account;
I was fortunate enough to make it (my wife did double soccer duty). I took notes and can provide a rough sketch.1. Metro stops to mall were jammed. The mall itself was filled between 2d and 4th with folks spilling out from fourth to 5th. People estimated a crowd of 40,000. I've never been good at that kind of estimate. I spoke with one affluent civil rights lawyer who seemed fairly reasonable until he told me that his friend from the CIA estimated the crowd at 250,000 and the government was taking pictures of the crowd. I then moved away from this guy.2. The event appeared well planned with lots of guides at the parking areas, at metros and at mall. Postcards to Whitehouse documenting the attendence of the sender were handed out, signed and collected. There was a good screen and speakers so I could see and hear enough from a block away from the platform.3. The crowd was mixed ethnic including Muslim participation (a Muslim group was part of our regional larger group. The crowd appeared to be about 1/4 to 1/5 Jewish. A lot of kippot were visible with representation from all parts of the spectrum (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Humanist). The best Jewish t-shirt I saw was worn by a Breslover Hasid (http://www.breslov.org/ ) and read, "Make Breslov, Not War".4. The crowd appeared mostly blue state in outlook, but not hard left. They were sincere in their desire to help the people of Darfur, but I doubt they'd be comfortable with a carrier air wing explaining the way of the world to Khartoum.5. Speakers (I don't have time to write a description, I'm transcribing my notes with a few extra comments):- Russell Simmons - rap impresario and buckethead, peddled oil industry conspiracy theories.a. Michael Steel, MD LtGov (R) - "cannot be managed, must be stopped", but he wants the UN to do it.b. Dick Gregory - fairly funny, still has good comic timing, nothing notablec. An Armenian Priest - mostly we need peace and love, but he managed to mention the Ottoman Turks as the villains of the Armenian Genocide which was very un-PC so I liked that.d.James Zogby - moves and talks like a slickster. Thought we should all be grateful that the Arab League has now consented to some kind of action; gave a list of other "atrocities" and included Hiroshima and "Israel/Palestine"e. The heroic manager of Hotel Rwanda (didn't get his name) wanted us to treat the bad guys like we treated Milosevic. I cheered.f. A reverend from the World Evangelical Institute in Canada - very straight up, lots of righteous anger. He accused the government of Sudan of targeting "non-Arabs" and "non-Muslims". I cheered.g. Imam Rashid Amin - I don't know where he was from, but his call for action was indistinguishable from any moderate leftist: wanted US to join International Criminal Court and recognized suffering elsewhere in the world ("Iraq").h. Reform honcho Rabbi Sapperstein - I'm not a fan, but he had a good rhetorical device. He repeated the phrase "I have a nightmare" concerning the effect of our inaction in Sudan. Given the location on the mall it was effective.i. Al Sharpton - pompous loud-mouth, indirectly claimed the mantel of MLKj. Unidentified female honcho - "demanded that US leverage its power to persuade Sudan government to cooperate and that US voters hold "Bush" accountable. When she said "leverage" I doubt she meant a carrier air wing either.k. Barak Obama - a great, inspiring speaker who said absolutely nothing memorable. Empty calories.l. Simon Deng - great, accused the government in Khartoum of slaughtering millionsm. Manute Bol - damn he's tall. Very respectful towards "President Bush". Thought the President could fix it if the american people and the world community would support him.n. Rep. Pelosi - I couldn't stop thinking of Iowahawk's piece here. She demanded a US envoy (that'll scare them. I hear Jimmy Carter is available).o. Left before Clooney came out. The program ran a bit late.My impression was that this was a movement started by sincere people who are truly focused on results. The left had a dilemma. On the one hand the victims are black Africans. On the other hand, the perps are Arab Muslims. The left tried to co-opt this movement but they can't do it. This issue is a poison pill for them. Even a cursory examination of this issue illustrates the following points:I. The UN is corrupt, incompetent and useless;II. Arab culture is racist and Jihadi oriented Muslims will brutally place the infidel in a position of dhimmitude whenever they can;III. The friends of the Khartoum government include Al-Queda and Iran (Remember the president of Iran choose a meeting with Sudanese officials to announce that Iran would distribute nuclear technology to other countries);IV. Ultimately American military power is necessary to defeat the bad people of the world; and,V. The UN spends 25% of its time crucifying Israel, while a good part of the rest of the world is Sudan.I'll close with a description of my favorite attendees. Two young US Army reservists (currently not on active duty) brought posters reminding people that stopping genocide takes boots on the ground and the Army is currently stretched thin. Their goal was to remind folks to support Army funding and to consider enlisting. I admired their idealism and optimism. We chatted a bit about the modern Army and the old Army (Gosh, is the Reagan era Army now the old Army? I feel like my dad!). They told me that other people to whom they spoke at the rally were polite and somewhat supportive. I was glad to hear that, but felt a little bad that those two guys, the best of America, were down on the mall, sincere and obscure while a dolt like Clooney receives adulation for a few minutes of emoting.
The money quote was the closng paragraph from today's New York Sun;
It’s wonderful and encouraging that tens of thousands turned out to support action in Darfur yesterday and to protest the Sudanese regime. But when one considers that a similar rally against the Iranian president’s vow to wipe Israel off the map attracted but a few hundred participants, it’s unnerving.
[...]
Opposing the war in Iraq while favoring an intervention in Sudan is akin to the position of an American during World War II who favored fighting Japan but taking a strictly pacifist stance toward Germany.It’s so illogical as to make one wonder why.
UPDATE: Thomas at Infidel Blogger's Alliance has an extraordinary essay on this as well here, read it .........oh and if I might add, the IBA has the hottest Infidel Babe of the Week ever (including me)
As a massive exercise in moral vanity, this was a rousing success. As a serious attempt at ending what is happening in Sudan it does even rise to the level of failure. To fail first you have to try. What would it mean to try. On Monday Lawrence Kaplan wrote about the planned march in a piece titled "If Iraq Was Wrong, is Darfur Right?"
The night of the fight, you may feel a slight sting. That's pride f*cking with you. F*ck pride. Pride only hurts, it never helps.
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Posted by: Name | March 31, 2009 at 09:34 AM